Instrumentation:

• cello — piano

Duration: 22:00

First Performance: 8 October 2021 / First Parish Congregational Church, Saco, ME / Noah Marconi, cello, piano (recorded)

Dedication: “This work was jointly commissioned by the Vermont Music Teachers Association and the Music Teachers National Association in 2021 as part of the MTNA Composer Commissioning Program.”

Program Note:

• Sonata for cello and piano was written in the spring and summer of 2021 in Shelburne, Vermont.

  The first movement, "Chaconne: Moderato," features a juxtaposition of different time groupings of five and six: the right-hand plays in six, and the left hand in five, smearing the otherwise simple harmonic progression. I imagine a gaggle of geese gracefully paddling down the shores of Lake Champlain, swimming faster and faster, then, in a fit of agitation, taking flight, only to land again with composure — a common occurrence on the lake.

  The second movement, "Allegro" is a typical scherzo ABABA form, with a reiterated B section. The A section uses the octatonic scale which is contrasted with the more diatonic B section. The cello and piano act like a married couple in argument in the B sections, one aligning itself with the octatonic scale, the other with diatonicism.

  The third movement, "Barcarolle," ("boat song") is a lyrical dance that has its roots in the music of the Baroque period. It brings back the serene, calm textures of the first movement, but with more advanced harmonic progressions.

  The fourth movement, "Allegro moderato," finally presents the traditional sonata-allegro form featuring two contrasting themes. The first is angular and aggressive, deliberately undermining the compound meter of 6/ 8 that it finds itself in. The second theme aligns itself more readily to the compound meter and is therefore more soothing, despite the frenetic scaler passages given to the cello and then the piano. The fugue which forms the development section brings back the octatonic material of the second movement combined with the rhythmic gestures of the sonata's first theme. After the customary return of the two themes in the recapitulation section, the coda features the chaconne from the first movement, gracefully bringing the sonata to an elegant conclusion.